Neighbors
by watashinji
Summary: Sasuke loves his solitude; gaining a new neighbor in the form of a handsome, outgoing and supposedly straight blond may not do him any favors.


Hello everyone - welcome to my first ever story on FF! I have been wanting to post stories about Sasuke and Naruto for years now considering they have been the closest characters to my heart for many years. I hope you enjoy the story. Any thoughts/feedback are appreciated.

Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, I just can't seem to get over them despite years of heartbreak.

* * *

It was noon of mid-July, and perhaps the hottest summer day Sasuke had lived through in his 22 years. He sat on the floor facing his fan on full blast with nothing but his briefs on. It was the sun he was trying to avoid, cooped up in his apartment without a working air conditioner. He would much rather be at the pool, the gym or any air conditioned facility in the building, but just the thought of the stickiness, the smell, and the people the sun would bring along to these locations was enough to make him strip and collapse onto his cool, marble living room floor.

His fan kept on making a creaking sound as if it was attempting to relay its last words. 'Geeeet ooout' it seemed to be saying, until it gave up and stopped.

Sasuke opened his eyes lazily, not entirely surprised. He had been unmotivated to replace the fan which had been dying slowly for the past 3 summers. It had been a housewarming gift from his older brother, Itachi. There was not much that could get him out of his apartment room during hot summer days, other than occasional hunger pangs, his job or his brother's nagging.

He lifted himself up, slightly swaying from not having anything to eat since last night. He usually went grocery shopping after work but the heat wave had been especially worse that week resulting in an empty fridge. He walked to his bedroom, perused his dresser for something light, put on a blue t-shirt, gym shorts and threw on a pair of flip flops. He decided he would sit by the pool with a book, that is, if it was relatively empty.

He could hear some rustling from outside his door, and figured it was a neighbor shuffling around for their keys or unloading groceries. He walked towards the front door and opened it rather abruptly.

"Oh whoa. Careful!" Sasuke heard a voice from behind the open door.

He peered at where the voice came from; a man about his age stood with eyes wide open and hands out in position to push back the door.

"Sorry." Sasuke said flatly as he pulled the door towards him to shut it.

The blonde man raised his eyebrows. Sasuke would normally have to say something about raised eyebrows directed at him but he decided it was probably his fault so maybe he shouldn't start anything. He simply turned around and felt ready to finally start his day.

"Hey wait!" Sasuke heard the same voice call out to him. He turned around and the man extended out his right hand.

"I'm Naruto. I just moved to the room next to yours." He pointed with his free hand at Sasuke's apartment door, "I'm assuming you live there. Unless you're visiting or something."

Sasuke studied his new neighbor- blue eyes, tan skin, blonde hair, about the same height - maybe an inch shorter. He took Naruto's hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Sasuke. You looked like you were trying to break in."

"You don't seem too eager to defend your property, if that was the case." Naruto smiled.

"Nothing of value in there. Let me know if you need help with moving furniture in. The hallways are narrow." He offered as he wasn't entirely without manners.

Naruto thanked him but politely declined. Apparently, his moving truck had not come in yet due to the heavy traffic. Sasuke inwardly let out a sigh of relief; it was too hot to be moving furniture. He excused himself to the pool, somewhat wary of his new neighbor's outgoing personality and the troubles it may bring. His previous neighbor had a similar personality and wasn't particularly covert about throwing parties or a get together every weekend or weekdays. They had both gone to the same university and on quieter days had unplanned meals together. She had moved in her sophomore year, a year after Sasuke had moved in. Sasuke never saw her again after the night of his 21st birthday last year. The morning after she left, Sasuke found a letter taped to his front door from her with a rather urgent and peculiar request. The letter read 'burn the whole room down'. Sasuke obviously didn't follow through with her request but did pack her few remaining belongings in boxes which he stored in her room. After she left, he was without a neighbor for a year.

Sasuke hung around in the indoor pool for what seemed like hours. He had brought a book with him to read which made passing time easier, but he found his thoughts traveling to the burger the guy across from him had been eating. He finally decided that he needed to eat something when his stomach started cramping up.

He walked towards his room to get his wallet and do some grocery shopping. The elevator opened in front of him a few seconds after hitting the up button.

"Ah hey! Did you go to the pool?" He heard a voice from the elevator. Sasuke spotted a mop of blonde hair and smiling blue eyes peering atop 2 brown boxes stacked on top of each other.

"I did. Here let me take one of those." Sasuke entered the elevator and nimbly took the top box from the stack, almost losing his grip as it was heavier than what he had anticipated.

"Thanks. You took the heavier one by the way." Naruto grinned.

"Hm. At least you're honest."

"Honesty is one of my best qualities!"

In the few minutes that Sasuke had gotten to know Naruto, he seemed like the kind of person to say whatever was on his mind but had a way of remaining amiable.

"How long have you been living here?" Naruto asked.

"For about 4 years."

"Oh then you've met Ino! She was my ex-girlfriend, she lived next door from you."

"...Ino? No way."

"Why is that unbelievable?" Naruto squinted at Sasuke.

"Ah no, I can see the attraction. It's just unexpected."

"She brought a lot of guys over, is that why?" Naruto asked knowing just what Sasuke was thinking. For the three years Sasuke had known Ino, she always had guys surrounding her. Most of them she introduced as boyfriends or ex-boyfriends.

"So you knew."

"Well I found out later."

"Ah..." Sasuke wondered how that played out.

"You know how you grow out of a relationship, that's what happened to us. Or well that's what she told me. It took me a while to get over the break up to be honest." Naruto almost looked sad.

"How long were you a couple for?" Sasuke couldn't help his curiosity.

"Officially since junior year of high school but we were close friends since middle school. I knew her my whole life. We went to the same elementary school and everything."

"Ah." Sasuke said lost in thought. That would leave an effect. He asked Naruto if she moved back to her hometown.

"Yeah she moved back home in East Boston."

Sasuke wondered if that meant she was doing okay.

"She's doing just fine." As if he was reading Sasuke's mind.

The elevator opened in front of them. Sasuke took the lead on the hallway and stepped aside for Naruto to open the door. Naruto's room was about the same size as his, with two more windows. It was always too bright in there to Sasuke's liking, but the air conditioner was on full blast so Sasuke did not complain. He put the box down near the kitchen island, where the rest of the boxes seemed to be.

"Do you want something to drink? Beer? Water?" Naruto asked rummaging through his fridge. It was surprisingly full for someone who had just moved in.

"No need. I need to get going."

"You look like you're hungry. I made pasta for lunch so eat before you go. As thanks!"

Before Sasuke could reply, Naruto started reheating the pasta on the stove and added more sauce. While the pasta simmered, he took out a few cans of cheap beer and offered one to Sasuke. Sasuke quietly took it, enjoying the coolness against his skin.

"I don't think I could refuse since you've already started setting up."

"That's right!" Naruto flashed a grin at him. "I was gonna ask, was there anything Ino left with you?"

"Hm. She had left a note asking to burn everything in her room." Sasuke took a seat on the bar stool sipping on his beer.

"She did that huh. She was always so dramatic." Naruto gave a low chuckle, his expression seemed to have darkened a bit.

"That she was." He recalled his late night visits from her which usually involved a lot of alcohol and complaints about the men she was going to murder or women who were out to get her.

"She has mellowed quite a bit, if you can believe it."

"I can. I always thought she had her head in the right direction and had a good read on people. She made some questionable decisions due to the circumstances is all."

"Heh. You're a good guy Sasuke." Naruto laid out Sasuke's plate in front of him. The pasta was swimming in Vodka sauce. His absolute favorite.

"...thank you." He meant it. Although he couldn't say if he was more thankful for the food or that he was told that he was given a rare compliment on his character.

"Do you like a lot of sauce on your pasta?" Naruto made a hopeful face and blinked his eyes a few times.

"...I do." Sasuke answered.

"So it was you!" Naruto gave him a grin.

"What was me?"

"You're the guy who gave Ino tomatoes when she moved in?"

It was around the start of his sophomore year. Sasuke was going through an especially busy week of university getting settled in, interviewing for multiple part-time jobs, socializing with classmates and avoiding student-run organizations shoving fliers up his face. Ino had just moved in next to him but he had not had the chance to introduce himself - or rather he didn't care much to introduce himself. One Saturday night he heard a knock on his door and rather absentmindedly opened the door to see a very blonde, very attractive woman standing in front of him with a container full of pasta. Ino had apparently made too much and decided to share with her neighbor. He accepted it and had a passing thought about why she hadn't kept it in her fridge. As he ate it for dinner that night, he thought that the sauce was lacking a distinct fresh tomato aroma which he enjoyed. The next day he left a box of tomatoes under her door with a note saying "_Farmer's market every sunday across the Science building. Best tomatoes_." They struck a sort of platonic relationship that consisted of home visits when Ino mostly ranted about her day while Sasuke tried to finish his homework. They had occasional homemade dinners with cheap wine or beer depending on the mood. Ino seemed to easily fill the silence that Sasuke left but it was never forced.

"That was." Sasuke smiled at the memory. Naruto sat down on the bar stool next to Sasuke with his plate.

"She used to talk about you." Naruto slurped his pasta, getting sauce all over his mouth.

"Did she? I'm surprised I never saw you around here when she lived here."

"I went to a college near my hometown and she mostly visited me there."

"Do you mind if I ask you when you broke up?"

"It was probably on the day she left you the note. We were having fights on and off prior to that. She wanted the relationship to be more open. I thought I was open to try it, but as you already know, she had already acted on it before we talked about it. I couldn't avoid feeling distrustful."

"Ah."

"I guess I'm not as open minded as I'd like to think I am."

"Context matters. It must've been hard for the both of you because you've known each other your entire life." Although it was not in his nature to assume, it made more sense that their relationship started out with friendship providing them with a stronger foundation than most. Sasuke was used to going on dates, very used to one night stands and admittedly never been in a long-term relationship. But even then he didn't think he would be open about a potential long-term partner sleeping around.

"I guess we wanted different things and started feeling differently for each other. But I'm happy we're still friends. She was the one who told me this room was empty."

Naruto started chugging on his beer and Sasuke felt the need to comment on the fact that Naruto had finished 3 cans in the span of 15 minutes.

"Are you trying to get drunk..?"

"C'mon Sasuke it's the weekend. I wanna drink with the first friend I made here."

"We're friends?"

"Well yeah." Naruto said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Sasuke was amused by his neighbor's personality. Although he was always the one to avoid every stranger, classmate, neighbor or friends of friends in his proximity, he didn't think he would go out of his way to avoid Naruto. Being around Naruto was not uncomfortable.

"I don't think we're there yet but I am not planning to get drunk. I have to wake up early for an interview."

"What are you 50 years old? You can still wake up early."

"I get bad hangovers."

"I'll bring you water."

True to his word, Naruto put a glass of ice-cold water next to Sasuke's pasta. Sasuke murmured a thanks. Naruto turned on the TV which filled the room with background noise. He then started telling stories about his life back in East Boston with Ino and his other friends. The conversation was easy, light and often humorous. Sasuke dwelled on how similar his conversations with Ino had been. He had felt guarded with her during their initial encounters but talking to Naruto had felt much less contrived.

"So, you practically know my entire life story. Won't you tell me something about yourself?" Naruto waggled his eyebrows.

"I think Ino may have told you enough already." Sasuke stated, as he finished his fourth can of beer.

"Well, then tell me something she hasn't told me!" Naruto pointed out.

"You know I don't usually do this."

"Do what?" Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"Get dinner and drinks with a guy I've just met without the intention of sleeping with them."

Naruto started coughing on his beer. "Wait, what?"

"I am gay, Naruto. Since you wanted me to tell you something about myself."

"Gay? Oh. Was not expecting that, but I appreciate you telling me."

"Hn."

"You gotta give me more though." Naruto continued eating his pasta, seemingly okay about this new revelation.

"Not exciting enough for you?"

"Not really. I would be surprised if you told me you were 100% straight. It's 2019."

Sasuke gave a low chuckle. "I see. Something else, huh? I think you're the first male _friend_whose place I've been to without the intention of sleeping with them."

"You said we're friends!" Naruto gave a pat on Sasuke's shoulder. "But I also would've guessed that. Ino did tell me if she hadn't been your neighbor you would've had no friends."

"Well, then I guess you and Ino know everything about me." Sasuke was starting to feel a little buzzed. It was not a good idea to have finished four cans of beer on a practically empty stomach.

"I doubt that." Naruto replied in a low voice.

They continued eating their pasta. Sasuke looked at Naruto who appeared lost in thought. Maybe revealing his sexuality to a stranger, he had just met wasn't the best idea, but he was very comfortable with himself so Naruto could either take it or leave it.

"I better go now." Sasuke started getting up. It was already 8 PM.

"Oh, already?" Naruto pulled himself back into existence. He looked at the clock and realized it was 8 PM.

"Yeah, thank you for the food. It was okay for your first time."

"Bastard! That was not my first time!" Naruto pointed at him.

"Bastard?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, amused.

"Yeah!" Naruto was almost pouting. He started standing and told Sasuke he'll drop him off which garnered him a raised eyebrow.

"Oh right you live next door. Maybe I'm drunk." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I need to hit the toilet. Wait for me, I'll walk you out."

Sasuke nodded. As he waited for Naruto, he washed his plate despite Naruto's insistence to "just leave it in the sink, bastard!"

Naruto returned to the kitchen and walked to the front door where Sasuke was waiting. Naruto looked somewhat mellowed. Both started walking towards Sasuke's apartment door. This was all very strange to Sasuke and assumed this was Naruto's way of prolonging company.

"Well, thank you for keeping me company today. I was a little worried."

"About?"

"About you being a bastard?" Naruto gave a sheepish smile.

"Have we started pet names already?" Sasuke asked.

"You haven't called me any names. I think" Naruto pointed out.

"True. I'll come up with one, it won't be that difficult." Sasuke said. He walked towards his room and started closing the door behind him, "I'll see you around, Naruto"

"See ya, Sasuke." Naruto waved at him.

Sasuke collapsed onto his couch; he felt buzzed, and airy. Naruto's company reminded him of Ino's, comfortable, warm and safe. Granted, Sasuke would have considered asking his new neighbor out had he been gay; but Naruto was probably as straight as they came despite his "it's 2019" comment. A feeling of contentment washed over him as he slowly started shutting his eyes. A sharp knock on his door snapped him out of the sweet, sweet nap he was about to take. Annoyed and reluctant, Sasuke opened the door.

It was Naruto. He looked embarrassed, but with an ever-present grin.

"Uhh…can I stay over at your place tonight?"

"Say that again?"

"I locked myself out. I tried to call the security people, but they left and there's no one around. I don't have friends around either. I'll be gone by tomorrow morning. Hopefully. Pretty please?" Naruto joined his palms and bowed his head, appearing desperate.

"I hope this isn't some long-winded plot for you and Ino to murder me."

"It's not! Promise!" Naruto waved his right arm in front of his face and shook his head frantically.

Sasuke sighed. This was not how he had expected the day or the night to go.

"Come on in, idiot." Sasuke held the door for him. Naruto's widened eyes expressed clear gratitude.

"Looks like you found a name for me already." Naruto grinned.

"I did say you were going to make it easy."

"You'll find that I'm easy about a lot of things, Sasuke." Naruto laughed.

Sasuke could tell Naruto was going to be a handful.


End file.
